Key West Report a/o 10/31/06

[Capt.ChrisLembo]

Water temps are down due to the cooler weather and rain over the past week. The water temp in Hawk channel is about 80 and 82 on the reef.

Due to the 20 mph ENE wind over the past week fishing has been mainly on the nearshore patch reefs.

For a quick overview of the water off Key West.....On the south side..from 50 yds off shore out to the reef (which is 6 miles out) the water is about 30 feet deep on average. There are hundreds (thousands?) of small reefs containing both hard and soft corals that dot the span from shore to the reef. Most are about 10-12 feet high and cover anywhere from the size of a car to the size of a tennis court. On Days when the wind is from the N or NE and strong the land blocks the wind and these reefs are still fishable in 2-3 foot seas. They are not only fishable due to weather but the water becomes very cloudy making the fish much less wary (almost stupid). Anchoring upcurrent and upwind of these reefs and chumming will bring up tons of fish. Most are on the small side for their species but there are plenty of big fish mixed in. In a half day it is easy to catch over 100 fish per person. Mutton Snapper, Yellowtail Snapper, Lane Snapper,Mangrove Snapper, Red Grouper, Gag Grouper, Black Grouper, Goliath Grouper, Spanish Mackerel, Cero Mackerel, Kingfish, Triggerfish, Sharks, Moray Eels, Porgy, Margate are all species you will catch in huge numbers. Some of the largest Grouper I have caught have been on these patch reefs in as little as 12 feet of water directly under the boat.

This has basically been the method for the past week while this blustery weather is in. Once it moves on the reef and thr drop beyond will turn on for Grouper and Snapper. Sailfishing has been OK over the past week and a small run of fall Dolphin have shown up. Wahoo fishing has remained strong for about 9 months now and it should be a great winter for Wahoo again.

Bait is everywhere and anchoring anywhere over any sort of structure will bring Ballyhoo within 5 minutes. Either a cast net or small hook and squid and you can fill the livewell in no time. Closer to shore there are Pilchards along most of the channel edges but they are moving around quite a bit.

Look for the Gulf to heat up as soon as the weather cleats.

[capefly]

What are some good general purpose flies for fishing over reefs and shallow water to catch a variety of fish like the ones you listed. I'll be fishing a clear intermediate line on a 9wt. Should I use long shank flies or wire to help with the toothy fish or is a 20lb flourocarbon leader/tippet generally enough? Thanks for the help.

[Capt.ChrisLembo]

Capefly:

I almost only use the FPF and ALF patterns from Bill and Kate Howe. Anything flashy from 3" to 6" will work great for the Mackerels. Use a Clouser to get deeper and you will catch Grouper on the fly.

I also use lines that will sink a little deeper than an intermediate. A 250 gr sink will get the fly down a little deeper and closer to the bigger fish.

As for wire you can use a 3"-4" piece of #4 or #5 American Fishing Wire coffee colored single strand wire. Tie it to the fly with a Haywire twist and an Albright to the leader. I pretty much just use a 3' 40# butt section and 4 feet of 30# Flourocarbon. You don't really need the flourocarbon since the water is cloudy anyway. The fish will still hit the wire in the clearer water but not when it is crystal clear. Give your chum bag a big shake and get a cloud of chum flowing back in the current and then toss your fly way past it and let the fly sink deep and strip it back through or under the chum cloud. If you have live pilchards toss a few back in the cloud as well.

The only other advise is to get the fish in fast or a cuda will eat it and don't make your connection knots too big or the Mackerel will hit the knots when you hook up another fish and cut you off. I had a customer with a Kingfish on the fly that was over 45 pounds. When he got close to the boat and we had good visual on him we watched another Kingfish come whizzing through and hit the flyline to butt knot and cut the whole thing off. Maybe cover them with some clear knot dressing/silicone if you can't get them real small.

[Ken Buke]

Nice report and information!

One question - What type of chum and where can you get it down there?

Thanks. Ken.

[Capt.ChrisLembo]

Any bait shop or marina will sell chum in blocks. Since gas prices skyrocketed the supply of chum has been cut down from 4 or 5 brands to 2 or 3 at most places. If you can find Expo-Mar it is the best otherwise whatever they sell will be fine as long as it has not been thawed and refrozen. Blocks go for around $6.00 and one will last about 1 1/2 hours in todays water temps. Be sure to use the large mesh chum bags as the small mesh does not release enough chunks and all the oil rinses out and you are left with useless mush.

Chumming is the basis for all fishing down here as there is so much bait already in the water that you need to get the bait and fish active and to swim away from their protection to investigate the chum origin. You will then have tons of bait eating the small chum behind the boat and larger fish finding the bigger pieces as they sink. Other predators will come through the chum and pick off the baitfish. The longer you stay the more different species will find you. If you cut open the stomach of any fish you catch it will be loaded with your chum.